It
has been a typically busy semester for Professor Ted Lascher. In the past several
months he has turned out research papers for journals on subjects such as macropartisanship
in California, ideological trends in the state, and incumbents and their constituencies.
And another is on the way looking at compensation for victims of terrorism.

“I enjoy
having the opportunity to do a wide range of research. Scholarly work is encouraged
here at Sacramento State and it doesn’t have to be in a narrow area,”
said Lascher, who has been named the recipient of the 2005-06 President’s
Award for Research and Creative Activity.

Lascher, chair
of the Department of Public Policy and Administration, will receive the President’s
Award at a ceremony at 4 p.m., Monday, May 15 in the Hinde Auditorium. After
the ceremony, he will deliver a lecture titled “How California Became
a ‘Blue State:’ Trends in Ethnicity, Ideology and Political Party
Identification.” A reception will follow in the Orchard Suite.

The award is given
annually to a faculty member who has made significant contributions to an academic
discipline through scholarly activity, research and publication or creative/artistic
endeavors. Lascher is the author or co-author of three books and more than dozen
articles in refereed journals. His article “Constituency Size and Incumbent
Safety: A Reexamination” recently won an award for best article of 2005
in Political Research Quarterly.

In his upcoming
lecture, Lascher will discuss how California has increasingly become a state
of voters who identify with the Democratic Party despite the election of Republican
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Lascher says there have been two eras in recent
state political history. First was a period of increasing Republican identification
from about 1980 to 1991, followed by an era of increasing Democratic identification,
with Democrats attracting more Latino and Asian American voters.

Lascher says that
the movement of California Latinos to the Democratic Party is similar to an
earlier movement to the Democratic Party 40 years ago by African Americans,
who favored President Lyndon Johnson and his support of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 over Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater. He says Latino voters still remember
Proposition 187, a measure aimed at barring many public services to illegal
immigrants, and its support by Republicans such as Pete Wilson.

“There is
reason to think that widely shared attitudes about anti-immigration efforts
may have pushed Latinos toward the Democratic Party, especially those who were
young at the time or new to the country,” Lascher says. “It might
also have been the case for Asian Americans as well.”

Lascher says it
is unclear if increased dissatisfaction with the Republican Party by Latinos
will continue. The Republican Party may have more of an opportunity to attract
Latino voters with the election of Schwarzenegger with his message of inclusion
and with his background as an immigrant himself, says Lascher.

He says the debate
on immigration will be an important factor for Latinos in deciding their political
party identification.

“I think
that Republican strategists need to worry that the political imagery that Latinos
associate with the parties may already have become frozen as has occurred for
other groups following periods of major social conflict,” Lascher says.